Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Healthcare and Nursing (Podcast)

When explaining the concepts of diversity, equity and inclusion, consultant Verna Myers says that diversity is being invited to the party, whereas inclusion is being invited to dance.

“I love this quote,” says Myra King, DNP, APRN-CNS, ACNS-BC, CCRN-CSC, who serves as APRN manager and a clinical nurse specialist in the Heart, Vascular and Thoracic Institute at Cleveland Clinic. “Diversity is important, but we really need to make sure that we are also including people and that we are treating them equitably and listening to their input – listening to truly understand and incorporate their ideas into our plans, into our projects.”

In this episode of Cleveland Clinic’s Nurse Essentials podcast, King talks about diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) in nursing and healthcare. She provides insight on:

• How clinical nurses can help ensure an inclusive, diverse environment on their units
• Addressing implicit biases and reducing health inequities
• The impact of a diverse workforce on creating trust and building relationships with patients
• The importance of cultural competence and humility
• Strategies to address patients or coworkers who exhibit intolerant behaviors
• DEIB policy and advocacy within the nursing profession

Click the podcast player above to listen to the episode now, or read on for a short, edited excerpt. Check out more Nurse Essentials episodes at my.clevelandclinic.org/podcasts/nurse-essentials or wherever you get your podcasts.

Podcast excerpt

Podcast host Carol Pehotsky, DNP, RN, NEA-BC: How does having a more diverse, inclusive workforce help patients? And how does all this translate into confidence and trust with our patients?

King: Diversifying the nursing workforce is really crucial to addressing health inequities. Even the Future of Nursing Report that was published in 2021 speaks to that. Because when patients come into our healthcare facilities and they walk into our hospitals, they walk into our ambulatory settings, and they see people that look like them, that have similar traits, then they start to feel as though, "Listen, I can trust."

And this has been shown in research. Research shows over and over that improves patient satisfaction and improves communication between patients. It improves building relationships. And we know that mistrust of the medical community has been a pervasive problem for decades due to a variety of reasons, whether it's racism in healthcare that was present just as it was in society.

So, how do we rebuild that trust? It didn't happen overnight. So, as we reverse the mistrust that exists it's not going to happen overnight. It's going to be a process, but it really does start with making sure that our workforce represents the patients that we care for. And then as we do that and we have healthcare workers that represent our patient populations, they can also help us uncover the needs of those patients that we may not otherwise see, or they may not trust to tell us.

So, whether it's race and ethnicity or the LGBTQ community, really being able to have those healthcare workers is crucial so we can address the health disparities that we know continue to be pervasive in our country.